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My poor kitty had a urethal blockage

Wow...what a weekend. Started like any other Saturday with us doing stuff around the house. We noticed Joey was acting a bit odd - meowing and restless, but it was full moon and they do get a bit rangy every once in awhile so didn't think much of it. An hour or so later, my hubby was working in the basement and noticed Joey come down to try to use the box about a half dozen times. I thought he was constipated so called the on call vet (of course our vet was closed by now) b/c I didn't know if it was a concern especially since vet wouldn't open until Monday. He said it was more likely a blockage and not something that could wait. Tried one more thing of taking him out to his favourite garden spot with no luck. There he started drooling and making gut-wrenching meows. During the stressful 45 min drive, I thought he was going to die. The sounds stopped, his breathing was shallow and he curled into a ball at the back of his box and closed his eyes.

As soon as we got there, the vet diagnosed a blockage and told us what he was experiencing and what they'd need to do. It was either the procedure or he'd die (euthanizing was never an option - he's our guy and we thankfully, have a pet fund). So, he stayed and they catheterized him and gave him lots of fluids. X-rays showed no stones so that is a relief.

I called for a night check a few minutes and he is doing well!! Alert, catheter out, and peeing like a champ! He can come home in the morning. I will work from home for a few days to keep an eye on him and he will need special food to prevent the crystals from re-forming. Whew. SO glad hubby was not only in the basement, but actually noticed something was not right. I did a bit of reading and was shocked at how quickly it can become fatal. And, the timing omg - often we go out during the day. Had we done that, we could have lost him.

Joey is such a fighter - he was an abused stray when we adopted him 4 years ago and came with MULTIPLE health issues that we have worked through yet he's always so easygoing and happy. Everyone loves him...techs at the emerg may not let him go lol

Home Now...

Thanks everyone!

He's home now...got up at 5:45 to pick him up - I don't even get up that early for people! He was pretty quiet on the way home. Perked up though once he recognized his yard and his house (my hubby was outside waiting for us).

Now...I don't know what to expect. He came home with medication, which I knew and his new wet food, which he has already had a little bit of. I've seen him try to use the box about 4 times in the first half hour of being home, unsuccessfully. I keep following him around to make sure he's okay, which I'm sure is driving him crazy..."Moooom, stop!! I can't pee with you watching!" I called our vet and got a 10 am appointment in case nothing happens by then. And, I have to get new food anyhow. I wonder if all three of my cats can eat the special food - sure would be easier that way.

Emryss...so glad your kitty is ok...got any advice? I'm like a worried Mom...don't think I'll get much work done today that's for sure!!

He's home now...got up at 5:45 to pick him up - I don't even get up that early for people! He was pretty quiet on the way home. Perked up though once he recognized his yard and his house (my hubby was outside waiting for us).

Now...I don't know what to expect. He came home with medication, which I knew and his new wet food, which he has already had a little bit of. I've seen him try to use the box about 4 times in the first half hour of being home, unsuccessfully. I keep following him around to make sure he's okay, which I'm sure is driving him crazy..."Moooom, stop!! I can't pee with you watching!" I called our vet and got a 10 am appointment in case nothing happens by then. And, I have to get new food anyhow. I wonder if all three of my cats can eat the special food - sure would be easier that way.

Emryss...so glad your kitty is ok...got any advice? I'm like a worried Mom...don't think I'll get much work done today that's for sure!!

Thanks again everyone ... will keep you posted.

FF

I went through a case of the special food (canned variety) and watered it down to make darn sure he'd pee! He's now on just plain regular canned food and no problems at all.

My vet said canned food is best - cats don't drink water like dogs will - and to call her if I ever saw him in discomfort so she could give me some Prazosin, which stops the spasms in the urethra and allows a cat to void comfortably. Nice thing about the canned food is that I can just mix in a crumbled pill and he'll eat it without noticing.

Don't tell me about what you can't do. That's boring. Show me what you can do. - Mom

It's amazing how fast these cause a cat to go from normal acting to very, very sick! It took my cat a few days to go back to a normal pee schedule after his blockage; as he was healing for the first couple of days, it was a bit like a UTI...more frequent small amounts, like a teaspoon at a time. A few times, he even peed whily lying on his side on the bathroom rug. My vet said this was normal for the first few days, and sure enough, within a week, he was peeing like a champ. I'll keep my fingers crossed for Joey!

I do feed Jesse James a mixture of prescription canned and Friskies Special diet, which is almost exactly the same thing as the rx anyway. I also add 2-3 tablespoons of water to every meal, and (knock on wood!) he hasn't had another occurrence.

Thanks emryss and HenryisBlaisin - mixing the water in is a very good idea. I'll start doing that a little bit this evening. Yes, quite shocking how fast it can happen. I have no idea how I forgot this, but my Mom reminded me of our family cat who passed away from that horrible pet food recall several years back - the one with the wood/plastic or whatever from China in it. Totally escapes me, but he went from fine to over the RB, in about 2 days. And, if you have no experience with this, you don't have enough time to let it sink in and react. We still miss him.

So, onwards and upwards from that! It was quite a stressful morning for us here. Everyone was up, routine gone to heck...but, thankfully, we've had about 3-4 pee's ranging from quarters to twoonies...yay!! He ate some lunch that had his antibiotic and his anti spastic in it, had some water and is now resting comfortably ON his buddy Bert. WHEW!

The vets have been great with letting me call every hour and they want to hear from me before they go home and throughout the day for the next couple of days. That is so great to have their support like that.

For food, we decided on a can a day of the Royal Canin/Medical Urinary SO for a week, and then we'll add in a bit of kibble and the kibble is edible for the other two cats I have too. Almost went with Hills, but saw a thread here about how much filler it is so went with the kibble version of the RC/Medical wet food. So complicated LOL!

Luckily, eating has never been Joey's problem Or drinking, they LOVE our CatIt fountain thankfully...drink and pee...that's our lives for the next few days...what we do for our animals eh?

Having been in your situation, I would NOT feed ANY dry cat food, ever, to a cat with a history of blockage. (I wouldn't feed it to ANY cat, period, but that's another story). It's lack of water that ultimately causes blockages-lack of adequate water intake keeps crystals that would normally not be harmful from being washed away, leading to buildup and eventual blockage. Even the dry rx foods aren't really good for the problem, and in addition, are too high in carbohydrates, which can lead to diabetes (NOT fun either, trust me!).

Check out this link on feline nutrition--there is a section on cats with urinary issues, and I found it really helpful:http://www.catinfo.org/

Update

So, it's been about 10 days now since my Joey blocked. I'm happy to say, so far (knock on wood), so good! He hasn't had any re-occurences and he's behaving normally.

His pee is almost back to normal, but still keeping an eye on that. He had a check up last Thursday, where we learned that it wasn't crystals or stones that caused it. So, right now we get the diagnosis of idiopathic feline cystitis...idiopathic meaning unknown...sigh. The vet was telling me there have been many studies done now on cats with urinary diseases where it's been proven that they don't handle stress well and cortisol can build up and organs get inflamed. Bladder is typically the first organ affected. It could make sense b/c he's had so many medical issues since we adopted him and there are two other cats in the house that could cause stress.

Right now, we are getting him through the first 2 weeks after his blockage and then going from there. He's almost done his antibiotic, anti spastic and his anti-inflammatory. We have a lot of options that we can pursue if need be.

I have learned though that feedings will not work in my house - and our vet agreed. They can say what is best for each cat, but we have to live it so it has to be practical. We put the dry food back down and feed him a can of wet food a day - all urinary focussed foods. Bought another fountain to put in the living room so it's not by the dishes and one cat doesn't 'own' it.

The more routine we can keep, the better. We are all glad it's coming back to that...that first week was very stressful. But, I look at his cute little face and think how could we not.

Did you vet mention anything about the water he gets? When one of my cats suffered a partial urinary blockage, the vet said I needed to put him on distilled water as the minerals in my well water were what he felt were the most likely cause of the blockage. No special diet was prescribed, but in your kitty's case, if he eats the special food, I'd stick with it. I do feed only canned food, though; no dry at all.

Since that blockage, I've given my cats only distilled water (they're all indoor-only, so it's no problem to ensure they only get distilled). Been that way for over 15 years, and no blockage problems whatsoever.